Those who have been following the recent soap opera at the University of Virginia may think that it has to do with the blundering dismissal of the president , Teresa Sullivan , and her subsequent re-engagement by the Board of Visitors under instruction by the governor of the state to put their house in order or resign .

In fact , the heart of the drama is not about the president . Nor is it about the board . Rather , it is about the principle stakeholders of the University of Virginia and American higher education in general .

Those who recall the campus disruptions protesting the Vietnam War will remember a slogan of the time , `` power to the people . '' It was meant to be a challenge of the `` rulers '' by the `` masses . '' In 2012 in Charlottesville , Virginia , we see a similar confrontation .

But in place of chanting `` Close the university , '' on this occasion the students , faculty and others assembled on the quad claimed the right to open the university as their own and called for the right to select their own leader -- their own president .

In the Vietnam era , the students and faculty saw the university as an alien complicit in `` the war , '' something to be overthrown . In today 's story , the students and faculty are saying that they are the university , an entity to be protected from a seemingly intrusive force : the Board of Visitors .

These campus constituents who are sometimes called `` members of the academy '' or `` the university community '' had the benefit of Sullivan 's leadership for only two years , a period traditionally considered far too brief for any group to develop strong feelings of loyalty and attachment . It was not Sullivan personally they were invested in but rather what she represented .

They were offended at being neither consulted nor appropriately informed when she was dispatched without due process or even a persuasive bill of particulars . It was the crime of insult . By ignoring the faculty and students , the board showed a disregard for their standing , and that is perceived as a critical act of rudeness .

The issue comes down to participatory democracy . Sullivan is the icon of the encounter . When the president was furtively fired without a legitimate process , we witnessed a back-of-the-hand slap by Marie Antoinette .

The rehiring of the president after a special emergency meeting of the board is a victory for the president , of course , but more significant , it is a victory for the concept of a governance system in which all parties who have a genuine interest in the maintenance of the university are given an opportunity to play their part , to express their thinking and have it inform the future of their institution . What we see here is the reaffirmation of a social contract that has been in place at a great university devised and established by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 .

In life , substance matters , and it does so equally on campus , in business or in government . But process is also important . How things are done reflect our values . Process becomes substance .

In the case at the University of Virginia , the leader of the board , Helen Dragas , was exposed as having disregarded `` the way we do things . '' This is no small matter at an institution like the University of Virginia , with its defining student Honor Code . The action of the board was a gaffe and a blunder . Dragas miscalculated how a slight can inspire a protest movement .

I can not help to think how ironic it is that this battle has two women in opposition , Sullivan and Dragas . Would this have been possible before the passage of Title IX in 1972 , a major contributor in articulating the women 's movement ? Many lessons will be drawn , articles written , perhaps even a book worth reading about one of the most consequential academic battles of 2012 .

Gender equity is far from complete on college campuses , but it has made a good start . In this case , the fact that the media have not made much about the women in the showdown demonstrates how far we have come in contemporary America . Twenty-five years ago , this would have been called a catfight . Today , it is merely a political battle .

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University of Virginia reinstated its president , Teresa Sullivan , after she was fired

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Stephen Trachtenberg : By ignoring stakeholders , board committed the crime of insult

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He says the board showed a disregard for the standing of faculty and students

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Trachtenberg : Rehiring of president is a victory for participatory democracy